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How difficult is it for you to find qualified IT staff?

About 18 months ago, my company eliminated a number of IT positions in a cost cutting maneuver. We were not overstaffed, by any means, but the people that made the decisions didn't pay any attention to my concerns. So we almost immediately had problems keeping up with the demands of systems maintenance and day to day operations, and started to see an increase in time required to resolve problems. IT staff was expected to "deal with it" which meant working many more hours for no additional pay, and it didn't take long for the most experienced staff to start looking for other positions and moving on, which made the situation even worse.

Slowly, it dawned on management that the decision was counterproductive, and they increased our hiring budget. However, we aren't in a large city with a lot of IT professionals just floating around, and it is difficult to find people that are as qualified as the people who left. This could just be my location in the midwest, I guess, but I don't know. I assume it would be easier on the coasts. Nationally, how difficult is it to find well qualified staff?

I think part of the problem is that a lot of IT positions are being merged, so that companies try to get one hire that can perform what just a couple of years ago was the work of two individual employees. Look at productivity numbers. Sure it sounds great that "worker productivity increased x%", but what that really means is that Joe Employee just had to perform x% more work, most likely for the same amount of compensation. For example, a systems analyst may also be required to perform the work of a business analyst. There aren't a lot of folks, no matter how bright they are, that have both skill sets. So does that mean that there are a lack of qualified candidates, or that the target is moving?

I think it might perhaps depend on the area of the country you are in. If you are having trouble finding people, then you might want to begin scouring LinkedIn and other professional sites for possible employees. Also, check with the people you know to see if they know others that might be looking for work.

Of course, you can and should post your job on Dice, Monster and other job sites. You may have to sift through a lot of resumes to find quality people, but at least it gives you a way to begin the process.

I think it might perhaps depend on the area of the country you are in. If you are having trouble finding people, then you might want to begin scouring LinkedIn and other professional sites for possible employees. Also, check with the people you know to see if they know others that might be looking for work.

Of course, you can and should post your job on Dice, Monster and other job sites. You may have to sift through a lot of resumes to find quality people, but at least it gives you a way to begin the process.